Disclaimer: Still the same tragedy: not mine. Phooey.

Story so far: Lucian and Yorn were coming back from their hunting of the so-called old witch, and they brought news with them. Bad news? Good news?

Chapter 3

DELIVERANCE

He had smelt the blood since miles away, and he had been alerted by the thickness of the scent. He wondered just how badly wounded Lucifer was; he was rarely wounded at all since the first time he had known him. Well, maybe he blundered this time round, but just how bad was that mistake? Was it the 'wrong time, wrong place' thing?

"Oi! What's the rush?" Yorn complained behind him.

"Is your sense of smell damaged? The smell of blood is so overwhelming I can barely stand it." He snorted in disbelief.

"I do smell it! It can be just that old hag's blood, right? Considering that guy's occupation, he could've shredded her into pieces, for all I know."

"The thing is, my dear darling Yorn, this is Lucifer's blood, not that old hag's!"

"Seriously?" Yorn's big eyes widened to their maximum size.

Lucian only rolled his eyes and refused to decrease his pace. If anything, he increased the speed of his walking until he was half running. Yorn complained some more but she did increase her pace with more enthusiasm this time round.

When they emerged into the spot where they had left Kuroro and Kurapika earlier, Lucian made a funny retching sound as the smell of blood was particularly strong there. If the smell of the blood had been normal, he would not have been that affected. The problem was that Kuroro Lucifer's blood was only half-normal; with Ishtar's blood mixed in it.

"For the love of God," he swore as wrinkled his nose in disgust and he looked around for a particular friend of his, "it stinks like—WHAT IN THE NAMES OF SEVEN FREEZING HELLS HAPPENED TO YOU?"

Kuroro raised an eyebrow as Lucian dashed towards him like some angry mother hen while covering his nose—as if he was going to die a horrible death if he inhaled the air even a bit. Before he could reach Kuroro, however, Meta had dashed from behind Bia and tackled his leg.

"She doesn't remember…" He whimpered to him.

Lucian felt as if he was having a huge meltdown.

"Oh, you poor heartbroken thing. I understand how you feel." Lucian bent down and patted Meta's golden hair as soothingly as he could. He gave the boy a sympathetic smile. "It hurts, huh? I feel the same." Meta gave a small nod and buried his face in Lucian's trousers.

"I thought you should have guessed by the thick smell of blood in the air. You are especially sensitive to the smell of blood, aren't you?" Kuroro commented rather incredulously, answering to his previous question that was phrased rather…amusingly.

"Yes, yes!" Lucian got up and approached him, and Meta had returned to his previous post behind Bia. "I thought maybe you only get cut or slashed a bit or nicked or, or—or anything else except for getting your whole arm and a tiny wee bit of your shoulder amputated! Ca dracu Aş aştepta asta! (like hell I'd expect that)" He bent down to look at Kuroro's piece of arm that was put on the cold ground. "Ouch…Nasty."

"Don't you have anything better to say that that? Idiot." Yorn clucked her tongue.

"For someone who's been nothing but useless, you talk big." Lucian said almost absentmindedly as he took a medicine box from his travelling bag and took a blood red pill out of it. "Want this, Lucifer?"

"Not necessary." Kuroro said flatly.

"You sure? You've lost a lot of blood, mind you." Lucian waved the said pill in front of Kuroro's face, as if tempting him.

"No. This isn't the worst I've ever experienced."

"Sure, tough guy. Cum spui tu (whatever you say)." The vampire shrugged and put the pill and the medicine box into his pocket.

Kurapika had been staring at the medicine box and Lucian's travelling bag for a while. She could see that he had stocked some first aid kit and some suspicious-looking drugs or medications inside that bag.

"Do you have a kind of antidote, then?" Lucian heard Kurapika asking him unsurely, and a tad bit hopefully. He knew that despite his easy-goingness around her, she was still wary. Trust her to be very, very wary just around everyone.

"Antidote? What, you're poisoned now, Lucifer?"

"As you should have seen." Kuroro pointed out.

"Fine, fine. I'm being inattentive." Lucian rolled his eyes.

"Look here! I think the needles here are the cause." Yorn said as she picked one needle with one gloved hand and held it up for Lucian. Lucian sniffed it and immediately wrinkled his nose.

"I know this one. I think I have an emergency antidote, hopefully it woks for this particular poison." He muttered as he began rummaging through his travelling bag.

"What's the side-effect?" Kuroro gave him a wry glare. While he knew that Lucian's drugs were highly effective, they tended to have some funny side-effects as well.

"Oh, the usual. You know; drowsy, cranky, sluggish, slight fever." Lucian shrugged. "Here you go."

As Kuroro opened his mouth slightly, Lucian flicked the capsule with his fingers into his mouth. Kuroro quickly swallowed the capsule before it started melting inside his mouth and leaving a bitter aftertaste that could screw his taste bud for the next full week—that happened the last time he took Lucian's antidote carelessly.

"Anyway, what to do now? I've found that their 'lair' is just around the corner. To get Kurapika's memories back, we need to go find the 'leader' and squeeze the information out of her. The other triplets don't know anything about getting the memories back."

Lucian scrutinised Kuroro as he spoke. He was pale beyond usual, and he could practically smell the fever from him. Either his drug was already working, or Kuroro's own immune system was already fighting the poison inside his body. Kuroro was silent for a while as he organized his thoughts, but he was having a hard time doing it since a particularly annoying headache had decided to strike him. His senses were dulled and his minds felt cloudy.

"I think we should get the kids somewhere else. They are shivering like dry autumn leaves there." Yorn said as she shot the children a pitying look. "There's a town nearby. Maybe we can take them to the inn there?"

She's right. The blond runt has been sneezing quite a few times by now,Bara said, and as if to emphasise that point, Meta sneezed once. See?

"Well, they are certainly not dressed for an outdoor sleepover." Lucian scratched the back of his head. "I think we should get them to the town. Lucifer can't stay here the whole night, either. His fever's already coming."

"Wait." Kuroro said with rather sluggish voice, and his chin was rested on his chest in a very tired manner. "There's no time. The other one should have noticed that her three sisters are dead by now. If she ran away, it would make things more difficult and all these troubles would be for nothing."

"I'll take them to the town." Kurapika suddenly declared. Kuroro raised his face slightly to stare at Kurapika. Kurapika looked at Lucian, and then at Yorn. "Can you two take care of the rest?"

"Sure, no problem, Ma'am. Question is, how are you going to take all three of them to the town? Lucifer's half-crippled now. I don't think he can even stand upright properly now." Lucian crossed his arms.

Kurapika licked her dry lips nervously and turned to look at the black horse that was still standing behind the shivering children; much like the children's solid fortress, as she noted.

"…Bara…right?"

Hey, you remember my name? Bara raised an invisible eyebrow at this.

"No. He mentioned your name once before." Kurapika said while glancing at Kuroro from the corner of her eyes.

"Scary memorising capacity. That's the Kurapika I know." Lucian whispered to Yorn.

"She's that awesome?" Yorn raised both eyebrows in astonishment.

"Can you carry all four of us to the town?" Kurapika asked carefully, as if she was treading on a land full of mines.

Sure no problem, Ma'am. These two runts don't even count as one grown-up, Bara snickered as Bia glared at him. And since Kuroro-boy there is poisoned, he can't have too many rough movements, right? No problem with that. I can just fly us smoo~~thly over the forest.

Kurapika obviously was shell-shocked to hear that a Unicorn—yes she had noticed that Bara was one earlier—could fly. She decided not to voice it out loud, for fear that she might just embarrass herself.

"O—okay…"

"Woah, woah, there. Kurapika, are you sure you can handle it? I mean, four people on one horse?" Lucian waved his hands hastily.

"From what I saw earlier, these children seem to have adequate equestrian skills. I think they can manage on their own." She turned to the children. "Can you?"

Bia nodded her head vigorously, and Meta gave a tiny nod. Kurapika could not help but to sigh discreetly as she noted how downhearted the boy—one who looked terribly like her deceased brother and her—was. He looked as if his whole world had shattered into tiny pieces.

"Then it's settled." Kuroro suddenly said from where he was sitting. He looked at Yorn and Lucian. "First priority is to finish things with the last of those thieves. I'll leave her to you."

"Fine if you say so." Lucian shrugged. "C'mon, Yorn. Let's get going."

"Okay…" Even as Yorn turned around to follow a mumbling Lucian, she still cast worried glances over her shoulders.

She saw how Bara had lowered his body to the ground so that Kuroro Lucifer—supported by Kurapika—could get up and mount the said horse. She saw how Kurapika sat behind him, supporting his poison-afflicted body with her own. She saw how Kurapika arranged it so that the children sat just behind her; trusting them completely with their riding skills that they had claimed to master.

Lucian had glanced over his shoulder as well. He chuckled secretly to himself.

The old Kurapika would not have allowed the children to their own devices. This amnesiac Kurapika was actually giving her children certain freedom and the children obviously loved it—even Meta who was still sad.

"So they are your family? My, I'm so happy for you! So they've found you, huh? Have you recovered your memories, then?" The plump landlady asked her excitedly.

It turned out that the inn was the very same inn that had housed Kurapika when she was found unconscious by the street side. The landlady noticed her immediately and gave her a room straight away. When she saw Kuroro's condition, however, she was so mortified she almost fainted on the spot.

"But it's so sad that your husband is so injured. It must be hard to lose an arm like that."

"W, well…" Kurapika's mouth twitched at its corner.

To hear directly that Kuroro Lucifer was her husband was something that she had a hard time accepting. For the sake of the good-natured landlady, Kurapika had to constantly check her temper.

"I…still haven't recovered any of my lost memories. Maybe they'll come back in due time."

"Yes, I really hope so. Ooh, poor kids… Their mother lost her memories and now their father is suffering from terrible injuries. Makes me want to cry…" The landlady sighed dramatically.

Something inside Kurapika's chest twitched. She said a few more words to the landlady before she declared that she wanted to retire to her—their—room. During the horse-riding—or more like horse-flying—Kuroro had leaned his body against hers. In that close proximity, Kurapika had been briefly frightened when she noticed how her body was not responding in repulsion to the contact. She had expected that she would be disgusted to be in such intimately compromising position, but she had felt otherwise.

Bara had to stay at the outskirt of the forest since he could not possibly parade into the world with his black horn free for everyone to see. It would raise an unnecessary uproar in that small town. Luckily, several metres into the town and some people noticed her and her unusual entourage. Some of them were kind enough to help her carry Kuroro to the inn.

"…Does it hurt…?" A tiny, frightened voice came from the slight crack of the door of their rented room. Kurapika had her hands outstretched, with the intention of opening the door fully. However, she froze and felt compelled to hear this conversation.

"…A bit…" came Kuroro's low, husky voice.

"Which one? Your arm or about Mom forgetting us?"

Even when Kurapika did not look into the room, she could virtually 'see' Kuroro ruffling the boy's hand and giving him a vague smile.

"…It tends more towards the latter, I suppose. Physical pain doesn't really affect me…"

There was a rustle of the bedsheets and Kurapika could imagine the boy climbing the bed to sit or snuggle next to Kuroro. There was an interval of silence; one that seem to torture Kurapika, before Meta spoke up again.

"…Why did you kill Mom's people…?"

"…There are a lot of reasons. You won't understand now, Meta."

"Try me."

"No. I'm not telling you now." Kuroro's voice sounded final; tired as it was, and the boy seemed to sense it as well since he did not push the matter further.

"Then… Has Mom forgiven you about it?" There was a hopeful tone in the boy's voice.

"…I believe so…" Apparently the boy had shot him a suspecting look, because Kuroro added, "I really do."

Suddenly, the 'persistent presence' inside her chest dropped very low; so abrupt it was that Kurapika had to blink in shock. At the same time, from inside the bedroom there were more rustling of bedsheets, and there were the soft pitter-patters of light footsteps. Before Kurapika could react—pretending that she had not been shamelessly eavesdropping—the door was flung open and a tiny figure had burst out of the room. To Kurapika's relief— she had no idea why she felt relieved—it was Bia instead of Meta. Bia looked at her with her big, round hazel eyes, before she softly closed the door behind her. She approached Kurapika and lifted a finger.

'Why are you crying?' she wrote.

"Huh?" She knew she sounded dumb, but she could not help it. She raised a hand and touched her cheek. The tip of her fingers felt the warm wetness trickling down her face. She had not even realised it.

Bia walked forward and hugged her leg. She then looked up and wrote:

'You will get your memories back, Mommy. I am sure of it.'

Even as Bia wrote so, her small hands trembled and her eyes were glassy. Kurapika knew that the little girl was holding back tears and emotions despite her blank expression. Kurapika knelt down and pulled the girl into an embrace.

"How did a sweet girl like you end up with us?" She whispered, not exactly to Bia. She knew by instinct that this girl might have been adopted at one point of time.

Bia clutched at Kurapika's shirt as she pressed her face to the crook of her neck. She felt like she had gone back in time, like her early days when she was still carried by Kurapika's arms like a helpless infant. She might not show it, but she was scared to death by the prospect of losing her only Mommy…

"Why did you go out of the room, by the way? You couldn't have sensed me here, could you?" Kurapika asked as she drew back.

Bia's eyes then widened as she realised that she had digressed from her initial 'mission'.

'Daddy! High fever!' She wrote frantically, not even bothering to write a proper sentence.

Kurapika's heart skipped a beat, but she acted fast. She got up and stormed into the room. Kuroro was still leaning against the wall while sitting on the bed with his right arm on his propped knee, but his head was rested on his chin and his eyes were closed. Meta looked as if he was close to a nervous breakdown as his whole body was quaking. Kurapika quickly ran to the bedside and put a hand on Kuroro's forehead. It was burning.

"You two stay here. I'll ask the landlady to get us a doctor." She told the children without even looking at them.

Kurapika dashed out of the room and down the wooden staircase; making a whole lot of commotion out of it. The landlady was quick to answer to her calling.

"What's wrong, dear?"

"Doctor! I need doctor!"

"O—okay. Come with me, I'll take you to the doctor so you can explain the situation."

So they both ran out of the inn to the house of the town's doctor. Inwardly, Kurapika wondered why she bothered to slave herself like this for the sake of the murderer of her people. Before her mind could logically tell her to just let that man rot to Hell, her body had reacted so fast she completely ignored the said cold logic.

Machi stood on the rooftop of one of the houses in the town. It was not hard to find this town. The new system that Shalnark had installed for them was very convenient, to say the least. She could easily pin point the exact location of her Danchou by looking at the new GPRS system in her phone. Navigating her position in relation to the map of the town, she concluded that Danchou was staying in the local inn. She dashed there without further ado.

Shalnark had briefed her about Kurapika's case of stolen memories and she had rolled her eyes at the news. Of all the troubles she could attract, it had to be this. It was a lie, though, if she said that she was not worried about Meta. The boy was particularly sensitive, what with that empathic ability of his. The news about Danchou needing her 'sewing expertise' was also disturbing her. Danchou had never been so careless as to let someone just chop off his limb. It had to be the Kuruta's mistake, or maybe the kids. It could not be Danchou's fault.

She tried detecting Danchou's Nen, and was surprised that she sensed the fluctuation of his Nen. Whatever the cause was, Danchou had to be in really terrible state. She had never sensed his Nen this…erratic.

Machi quickly reached the inn and searched for the room where they were staying. Effortlessly, she found it and raised her Nen slightly to announce her arrival. Only God would know what the ex-chain-assassin could pull off when she was suddenly alerted by the presence of one Spider. Better be safe than sorry later.

The window was promptly opened and Machi slipped into the room. It was Kurapika who had opened the window, and she stood by the window with a trained expression on her face. Machi could see that she was having an inner struggle, so she decided not to bother her lest her control broke.

"I'll leave him to you." She heard the Kuruta murmuring to her.

Kurapika hastily left the room and closed the door behind her almost inaudibly. Machi stared at the door for a while, contemplating her words before she focused her attention to her Danchou.

And she was VERY displeased with the state he was in.

"Danchou." She said with small voice and a deep frown.

Kuroro looked up and gave Machi a smile; as if encouraging her.

"You're just in time. The arm is here. It should be still in good enough condition." He said while nodding his chin to the direction of his arm—which was lying on the table next to the bed.

Machi took the arm and took off the make-shift bandage. She inspected the wound and nodded.

"It's perfectly re-attachable." She said as she walked to the bed. "What happened, Danchou?"

"Long story." Kuroro chuckled. "Sorry Machi, but I don't think I can move from this spot."

"It's fine. Were you poisoned, Danchou?" She asked as she knelt on Kuroro's left side. She then proceeded with uncovering his amputated shoulder and positioning the arm near it.

"Unfortunately yes." He said, but did not elaborate.

To be honest, he had forgotten that a poisonous needle had scored a mark on his chest. Kurapika had done her best to suppress the flow of poison from his arm, but the one from his chest was a wholly different issue. The combination of the poison, his immune system, and Lucian's antidote inside his body was a bad one, it seemed. That was the reason why his fever had peaked and why it had scared the living hell out of the children and Kurapika.

And with a twisted sense of pleasure he had been appealed when he saw Kurapika's look of panic on her face as she discovered how bad his fever was. Her Nen inside him had twisted and squirmed like a worm sprinkled with salt. She had even run to fetch a doctor (a poor, wheezing old thing that looked like his lungs could collapse anytime) for him. She had fabricated a story about them getting into accident and Kuroro getting poisoned, and the naïve doctor completely bought it.

But of course the doctor had been useless. The only thing that the old man could do was to give him a puny medicine for the fever, which Kuroro had refused to take. An irritated Kurapika was quick to react—she practically forced it down his throat.

In the end… We are still only humans…Kuroro thought. True that he was not exactly happy to have a 'monster' blood in his body, but it had helped him through many troubles before. He guessed that Ishtar's blood was already doing its best to prevent the poison—nicely administered from his chest very near to his heart—from ruining his heart permanently. Still, to lay there; vulnerable and prone, was far from what he would like.

When was the last time I get this sick? He mused absentmindedly.

"I'll start." Machi said as she raised a needle.

Kuroro watched as Machi did her job; it was always a sight to behold. The needle glinted sharply as it moved in a pattern, giving off silvery trails around the stump of his arm and shoulder. The Spiders rarely needed any surgery, so it was rare to see Machi performing this task.

"It's done." She said as she pulled the string and the arm snapped back to his shoulder.

The Spider Head tried moving his left arm once Machi had cut off her Nen thread from his arm, and it moved according to his will though rather awkwardly and stiffly at first. There was a tingling sensation around the spot where his arm had been severed, but that was all.

"The wound should close in a few hours." Machi said.

"I see. Thank you for a job well done. I suppose I owe you several billions Zenni by now." Kuroro chuckled as he flexed his fingers more. "I presume this is one of the hardest surgeries you've ever performed so far?"

"It is the hardest one." Machi said with even voice as she observed her Danchou warming-up his newly re-attached arm. "And if you insist on paying me, you can pay me with Kurapika's money."

Kuroro raised an eyebrow as he looked up at his Spider.

"I daresay it was her fault that you got into this." Machi shrugged and her face showed that she had no intention of changing that thought.

"Well, you can certainly look at it that way." Kuroro said with amusement.

"So what about her memories?" Machi asked carefully.

"Lucian is taking care of it. We'll just need to wait until he's finished."

Lucian might not be a part of his Genei Ryodan, but he was someone that Kuroro Lucifer regarded in high esteem combat-wise. He would get things done—his style, of course.

The two of them crouched on one of the branches of a big tree in the forest. They had found the quadruplet's temporary hide-out, and it was none other than a small run-down hut. Yorn had scoffed that it really suited them; looking like some voodoo old witches and all.

"So what's the plan now?" She whispered to him.

"Hm…"

Suddenly, the door of the hut was opened and rushing out of it was an old lady. She looked more refined than the other three, and saner if her tidy appearance was anything to go by. Her face looked horrified to the extreme, and she looked as if she could get a heart-attack anytime. Lucian narrowed his eyes as he observed all these.

"Yorn, cover me."

"Roger." Yorn murmured as she took out her crossbow.

The Unicorn girl used to employ conventional bow and arrow, but with the Hunters Association paying regular visits to her tribe, some of the personnel had been upgrading her weapons for better efficiency—and she was grateful to Kurapika for that. Had Kurapika not come to her tribe and put her tribe under the company's protection, her tribe would not have flourished as much as it did now.

Besides, she still had something to give to Kurapika; and it was something she could only give once she had recovered her memories.

Lucian nodded at her and then jumped off the branch. He landed noiselessly with a grace; it seemed as if he had just floated down there instead of jumped, and started stalking the old lady. He saw her holding something close to her bosom at all time, as if it was the most precious thing on Earth.

"W, who's there?" The old lady suddenly spun around and raised a metal cane to Lucian's direction.

"Good evening, Madam. What are you doing in a solitary place like this?" Lucian asked amicably, but there was a kind of eldritch aura seeping off him.

"I—I can ask you the same thing! Who are you?" The old woman's hand began shaking.

"Mmhm. I have a business with you, of course." Lucian's eyes then suddenly glowed eerily blood red. "You see, you and your sisters have put my friends in quite a lot of predicaments. So, I want a full compensation from you."

The vampire then grinned broadly; revealing the row of pearly white teeth. His canines glinted especially cruelly.

And it has become a personal issue for me, he added in his mind.

The old lady gave a pitying shriek, and there was an avian cry coming from above. A bird swooped down from the dark night sky, aiming for Lucian's head. Before it was anywhere near the man, however, a few arrows had flown from among the trees and pierced right through the head, neck, and abdomen of the bird. It gave a death cry and fell dead to the ground.

"Oh my, you obviously have no combat skill whatsoever. You've been depending on your outrageous sisters too much, it seems." Lucian chuckled pleasingly, but to the old lady it sounded like the voice of the Devil himself. "Now, Madam…"

The pale man suddenly disappeared from her sight. The old lady looked around in panic, trying to spot that creepy man when a cold breath brushed her nape from behind.

"…Would you be so kind as to allow me the pleasure of peeking into your soul and mind?" He whispered to her ears as he put two ice-cold hands on her shaking shoulders.

The old lady did not even have the time to cry when her world was plunged into silence, red, and black.

The children were fast asleep on the bed, hugging each other closely. They were both exhausted by the night activities, but the blond boy was obviously scarred by the whole ordeal. There was not a single time when he would look at Kurapika without a haunted look. If he was really empathic, then perhaps she could not blame him for being so scared of her. She had been filled with thoughts of revenge and hatred concerning the massacre of her clan, after all. For a little boy like him to be exposed to such strongly negative feelings…

Kurapika suddenly looked up. She sensed the presence of the female Spider moving away from the inn. It seemed that she had finished with whatever surgery Kuroro had told her earlier. She then recalled the time when the doctor had gone back home after giving Kuroro a drug for the fever. The landlady had volunteered to look after the children for her, since she thought that it was not good to keep the children in a room with a sick person.

"Haaa… So annoying…" Kuroro breathed out. "This is so…annoying…"

"It's annoying to be so weak, huh?" She could not resist mocking him.

"Exactly…" He still managed a chuckle. "Reminds me…of the time when we were stuck in that cave."

"What cave?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"I was down with tetanus…" Kuroro rested his forehead on his right forearm. "…and you nursed me…"

Kurapika gave a horrified look on her face; but Kuroro did not see it.

"…at least until Shalnark came with the medicine…"

Kurapika eyed him with torn expression.

"What happened to…us…eight years ago?" She asked him carefully.

Kuroro lifted his head slightly so that he could look into her eyes and study her expression.

"I'm not telling you…" He decided and went back to his previous position. "It's pointless…" He was too tired to tell her the long story.

"But—"

"You'll recover your memories in due time, anyway…"

Kurapika frowned deeply. He seemed so confident that she would recover her memories sooner or later. Also, she would be beyond ignorant if she had not seen how the man had tried to look after the children even when he had been severely incapacitated. It had not been expressive, but it was there.

How she had managed to notice those gestures was also another question.

With a sigh, Kurapika got up and took the clean shirt on the table. The landlady had handed it to her earlier when she fetched the children. The kind woman had offered the shirt for Kuroro's change since his shirt was beyond repair.

She hesitated slightly when she stood in front of Kuroro's room. She raised a hand and it hung in the air for a while before she finally knocked on the door.

"Come in." Came the clear voice from inside. Kurapika frowned as she noticed that the voice was stronger than before.

When she stepped in, she was surprised to see him exercising his now-attached left arm, though he was still restricting any movement from his right arm and the rest of his body. He turned to her and gave her a smirk.

"See? I told you it's going to be back to normal." He told her smugly.

"Hmph." She donned a mask of irritation, though inside she was somewhat relieved. "Since now you're so fine, you can change your clothes yourself then."

Kurapika walked towards him and tossed the new shirt to the bed, not unkindly though. She then crossed her arms defiantly and glared at him. Kuroro regarded her with a mock hurt expression.

"You are impossible, Kurapika."

Kurapika rolled her eyes.

"Just because you're sick, I don't have to cater to every single one of your whim."

"Is that so? A pity." Kuroro closed his eyes and sighed over-dramatically.

Kurapika narrowed her eyes at him. Inside her guilty conscience was kicking her inside, and she was struggling to fight it off. After all, he was in this sorry state because of her. If he had not pushed her aside, she would have been cut into two identical halves like a ripe melon.

In the end, she lost the fight.

"Insufferable bastard…" She muttered to herself as she snatched the new shirt from the bed and unbuttoned it rather furiously.

"I know. You always tell me that." His mood had definitely improved since he got his arm safely secured with his shoulder. With his left hand, he unbuttoned his soiled shirt.

"Do I?" Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"Mmhmm." He hummed as Kurapika began peeling the bloodstained shirt off him.

Kurapika looked at the shirt with obvious disdain and folded it carefully so that the bloodstained part was inside the fold. She had already troubled the landlady so much, she did not want to dirt the floor with blood; though the one on the shirt had pretty much dried. She began putting the shirt on Kuroro silently. His eyes never wandered from her as she did all those; and he knew that it made her uneasy but he ignored it.

"You know…" Kuroro started; his eyes still observing her as she was buttoning up his shirt.

"What?" She responded rather waspishly; irritated for being observed as if she was an amusing zoo animal.

"I killed your people and stole their Scarlet Eyes."

Kurapika froze. Why was the man bringing up that topic now? Because the children were not around? Before long, her hands started to bristle.

"But I was also the one who helped you collect back all those Eyes."

She snapped her head up and glared at him; accusing him of lies. Her eyes had turned majestically Scarlet Eyes and Kuroro—again—took this opportunity to admire those eyes. Kurapika had never been keen on showing him that beautiful shade of her eyes, especially because they were the bitter reminder of the start of their bloody relationship.

"And now I've helped you in continuing the bloodline of the Kuruta."

Kurapika had had enough of it. She was about to get up and storm out of the room when a strong grip ensnared her wrist and pulled her back to the bed. The grip quickly detached itself from around her wrist and caught her chin. He forced her to look at his face. Kurapika then found herself staring into those obsidian eyes of his.

"You may have forgotten the past eight years. If the worst case scenario happens—where your memories can't be restored—"

Kurapika blinked. So he did consider that possibility? And what was with the slight tremble in his voice when he said that?

"Then at least remember this: I did take everything away from you, Kurapika." He told her with husky voice as he leaned forward until their faces were a few inches apart. "But I give you everything back."

Her eyes darted between the pair of eyes back and forth, searching for lies and deception; but she found none of them. She pressed her lips into thin line, before finally she opened her mouth.

"And you expect me to believe you?" She felt foolish for trying to self-suggest herself that he had lied to her.

"Of course it's up to you to believe me or not." Kuroro released his hold of her chin and drew back. "But at least, do it for the sake of the children."

At this, Kurapika dropped her eyes down. The image of Meta's disappointed face haunted her; a face that—to her—looked so much like her deceased brother's, except for the eyes… She was preoccupied with thinking of what to do with the children, when suddenly a kind of pressure assaulted her head at full-force.

Kuroro, on the other hand, saw a flash of light penetrating the ceiling and coming down to Kurapika so fast he had not the time to react. It entered her head and dissipated, and the next thing he saw was Kurapika clutching her head and cursing under her breath.

"For the love of God…"

"What's wrong?" He asked; his voice was calm.

"I felt like I've just gotten the mother of all migraines and vertigos…" Kurapika blinked her eyes, her eyes bleary and glassy from the shock and light-headedness.

"Is that so?" Kuroro raised an eyebrow, and decided to give it a test. "Maybe you should ask for a medicine from Lucian?"

"Hell no! I am NOT going to take any questionable drugs from that lunatic vampire when I'm pr—" She halted abruptly, and then turned to look at Kuroro with wide eyes.

Kuroro smirked, and then laughed.

"Looks like the worst case scenario isn't about to happen, after all." He said with a smile.

"Oh…My God…" She groaned as her face turned deathly pale, and her hands began clawing at her cheeks. "I'm so terrible! Oh God…" Her eyes strayed to his left arm. "Kuroro, I…I'm so sorry…"

Kuroro chuckled pleasantly and raised his good left arm. He reached for her head and brought it closer to him. He then rested his temple on her shoulder and closed his eyes.

"It's worth it." He said as his whole body relaxed for the first time since the start of this whole incident.

She was not one for crying; she never was. However, this time round maybe she could be a bit lax with herself—especially so when the missing eight-years-worth of memories had just returned to her. It was as if all fogs had been lifted off her head and she could see the world crystal clear like never before.

"Idiot…" She murmured as she closed her eyes and clung at his shirt as if he was her lifeline.

Kuroro gave a content smile.

"Welcome back."

She sat in the kitchen while staring at the letter that she was holding in her hand, her elbows on the kitchen counter, with a mug of warm chocolate just in her reach.

Things had returned to normal after the whole memory-loss incident. They had come back to the town pretending that nothing was wrong, and so Fino had no idea about their 'little adventure'. Shalnark had gone off to scold Bara for carelessly taking the children away, and Bara had largely ignored him as the unicorn was telling Una about the whole incident.

Meta and Bia were especially hyper for several days after she had recovered her memories, and they had been ultra clingy to her. At first it was nice, but since Kurapika was a practical person and she had a lot to do, she had to coax the children to 'go and bug your father now'. Oh, the boy also had begged them to explain about the Kuruta massacre, and both Kurapika and Kuroro had told them firmly that they would explain it in due time when they were old enough—and it elicited a really grand pout out of Meta and electric sparks from an unhappy Bia.

As for Lucian…well…When he had come back from his dealing with the last of the quadruplets, Kurapika had rewarded him with a bone-crushing hug and even a kiss (more like a peck) on the cheek. Of course Lucian had been frightened shitless at this sudden shower of affection from Kurapika, and thought that it was an after-effect for the sudden recovery. Well, it was part of Kurapika's plan anyway (to make him stuttering silly like some blushing virgin).

Yorn was wholly glad that she recovered her memories intact because she then could finish her job at long last. She had gone searching for Kurapika since she had a letter to give to her.

"You remember my brother, Lazmorgh? That jerk is getting married soon, and he's inviting you to the wedding. I've got to wait until you get back your memories otherwise…well…y'know." She shrugged. "Anyway, I hope to see you there. You can bring this lot along if you want to."

And so that was the reason why she was sitting there in the kitchen late night.

While it was nice that she was remembered by the people of the tribe that she had so-called 'save from extinction', she was not sure about the idea of attending a wedding party. First of all, she was not very keen about going to parties of any sort. Second, the idea of bringing the whole household there just spelled plain TROUBLE.

"Still haven't decided yet? The date is coming soon."

She did not have to turn around to see who was approaching her.

"I don't know. I'm not interested in parties, but I'll feel guilty if I don't go there. Yorn has even gone out of her way to help so that she could give me this invitation letter." She drawled unsurely.

"Well, then make some excuses. You're good at it, aren't you?" He said with a small chuckle as he stood next to her while leaning against the kitchen counter.

"You said it as if I'm a liar." She scowled at him.

"You come up with good excuses; that's what I'm trying to say." He shrugged. "It's a compliment."

"You compliment people in the weirdest way possible." She sighed and rolled her eyes.

She put the invitation letter aside and reached for her chocolate. She twirled her finger around the rim of the mug, before finally taking a sip of the beverage. They remained in the silence for a while, each contemplating their own thoughts while enjoying each other's company.

"You know…" Kurapika broke the silence.

"Hm?"

"I…When I haven't recovered my memories, I was actually…scared. I was afraid that I wouldn't ever get them back."

Kurapika paused and Kuroro stared into the darkness while thinking over her words.

"I thought you'd be glad to forget all the complicated memories and instead focus on your hatred and revenge."

"Oh, please, Kuroro. I have a sense of responsibility." She snorted in indignation. "The scars here on my palms, the ring; something must have happened. I can't just go about ignoring them, can I? Not to mention that it's eight-year worth of memories. Eight years!"

Kuroro laughed lightly at her little drama.

"So," she turned to him with a challenging tone, "what will you do if my memories really didn't return?"

"I'll just get someone to erase all of your memories and tell you that you've lost all of them instead of only a piece of it, and then fill you with only the necessary 'memories'. It'll be easy to persuade your other friends to go along with this scenario, since I don't think any of them agree with your past 'life of vendetta', as the Zaoldyck boy so eloquently termed it once before." He smirked tauntingly at her.

"You have really thought through it back then, haven't you? With all those details…" Kurapika said with a cringe.

"I did. Call it a back-up plan."

"An evil back-up plan."

"But then again," Kuroro looked up the dark ceiling, "perhaps that's not exactly the best solution. You wouldn't be you if you lose all your memories."

"Thanks for the consideration. How I'm so glad that my memories return intact." Kurapika sighed while rolling her eyes.

"The feeling's mutual." Kuroro said with a chuckle.

Kurapika stared at him for a while before finally shaking her head and putting down the mug of chocolate.

"I can't believe it. No wonder my amnesiac self had a really hard time believing that I really put up with you and stay sane until this…" She put a hand on her belly, "far."

Her eyes then turned scarlet for no logical reason. Kuroro observed her visage and those Scarlet Eyes. He vaguely reminded himself that those Scarlet Eyes were the beginning of their ties.

"Maybe I'm already insane." She muttered.

"Mmhmm." Kuroro bent down to level his face to hers, until the proximity of their faces was so close the tip of their noses almost touched each other. "I love you, too."

There was the teasing tone in his voice, and Kurapika's face burst lobster red at this. However, in all the playfulness in his voice, she knew that he meant every word of it. Kurapika let out a smile; a very rare smile of hers.

"The feeling's mutual," she whispered.

And they closed the remaining gap.

Author's Note: THERE! Gosh, I spent DAYS finishing this outrageously long one-shot (or three-shot; whatever you call it) =P Actually, I've finished the whole thing before even posting the part XD I hope it's worth it. If you notice, the last scene is the elaboration from the one paragraph in the Epilogue of Angel's Prayer =D I can't believe I actually make them say I LOVE YOU. Though Kurapika didn't really say it out loud and more like implied. Some reviewers asked me to make them say it, so yeah... I hope it isn't too OOC. Hope...*cross my fingers*

Reviews are of course very welcomed ^^ *still the same ol' greedy author*